On Other Blogs Today: Preelection Friday Edition

1. Distancing himself from John "The Rape Thing" Koster, Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna called Koster's comments, which trivialized women seeking abortions after being raped, "inappropriate," the Spokesman-Review reports. McKenna said: "I disagree with him strongly."

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-5), Koster's potential seatmate, who frankly, got jilted by Koster when Koster did a fundraiser with McMorris Rodgers' rival for GOP house caucus chair Rep. Tim Price (R-GA) last month, would not take a position on Koster's comments, saying she hadn't heard "exactly what he said." (Ironically, Koster made his controversial comments at the Price fundraiser.)

2. The Seattle Times says King County Metro is investigating charges that uniformed Metro employees removed Rob McKenna yard signs that were posted near Metro's Ryerson base in SoDo.

The Metro union says photos of the alleged vandalism are "fabrications." In response, the Metro union says photos of the alleged vandalism are "fabrications."

3. The Tacoma News Tribune reports that Ramtha's School of Enlightenment leader JZ Knight, who claims to channel a 35,000-year-old spirit called Ramtha, has won a temporary injunction against a former acolyte barring the student from releasing materials belonging to the school, part of a lawsuit by Knight to prevent the woman from releasing the materials permanently.

Knight, who has contributed generously to the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates, was caught on tape issuing an obscene, homophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, and anti-Mexican screed at a February 2012 event; the release of the tape prompted the Democrats to contribute to the Anti-Defamation League and the pro-gay-marriage campaign.

4. The Walla Walla Union Bulletin argues that Washington state's vote-by-mail system should become more like Oregon's, with a strict deadline: If the Postal Service doesn't get your ballot in to the Secretary of State's office by 8 on Election Day (or if you fail to physically drop it off on time), your vote won't be counted.

While it's true that this would allow people to find out who won close races sooner than the current system, which only requires that ballots be postmarked by Election Day, the possibility of reducing voter participation seems like too much of a tradeoff for slightly quicker election results.

5. Finally, the Northwest Catholic Gazettehas a dispatch on the news on gay marriage from prelates in Pennsylvania, Peoria, and Green Bay, Wisconsin.

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